Brake eob railroad-cars



2 Sheets-Sheet 2 H. DAVIS.

Car Brake.

Patented Sept. 13, 1859.

Witnesses= UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

HENRY DAT 'IS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

BRAKE roR RAILROAD-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,392, dated September 13, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY DAVIS, of the city and county of Baltimore andState of Maryland, have invented an Improved Apparatus for Arresting theForward Movement of Railway-Cars; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full and exact description thereof, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, which constitute a part of thisspecification.

Figure 1, is a top view of a car-truck which has my improvedcar-arresting apparatus combined therewith; Fig. 2, is a side view ofthe same, and Fig. 3, is a section in the line 00, Q7, of Fig. 1.

Similar letters indicate like parts in each of the drawings.

My improvement in the means which are ordinarily employed for arrestingthe forward movement of railway-cars, consists in the combination ofsand receptacles with the trucks and with the brakes of a railwaycar insuch a manner that small quantities of sand can be let in between thefaces of the brakes and the peripheries of the wheels, at the instantthat the. former are made to press against the latter, for the purposeof thereby increasing the frictional action of the brakes upon thewheels.

In the drawings the sand-boxes C, C, are represented as secured betweenthe side beams A, B, of a car-truck, and in such positions respectivelythat the necks which de scend from said boxes will conduct the sand intoflaring openings at the upper ends of the frictional surfaces of thecar-brakes.

The body D, of a pair of car-brakes is suspended between a pair ofcar-wheels by means of a rack-bar 7', which works in a vertical aperturein either end of the central bearing beam E. The pinion 76, whose teethwork into the teeth of the rack-bar f, is placed upon a short shaft 6,whose journalboxes are combined with the blocks G, which are bolted tothe under surface of either end of the said bearing beam E. The blocks Galso receive the journal-boxes of a roller h, which bears against theback of the rack-bar f. A hinged cover j, closes a discharging aperturein the neck of each sand-box, which covers are connected to the upperend of the rack-bar f, by means of a pair of angular levers 2', i, asshown in Fig. 3; viz: The inner ends of the said angular levers arejointed to the upper end of the rack-bar. At their angles the saidlevers are combined with pivot-pins which project from the outer anglesof the transverse beams F, F, and the lower ends of these levers passinto pockets or loops formed upon the backs of the said hinged covers.It will therefore be perceived that the opening of the covers of thedischarging apertures in the necks of the sand boxes (C, C,) must besimultaneous with the action of the brakes upon the car-wheels, and thatthe sand must pass from the sand-boxes directly in between the peripheryof each car-wheel and the flaring upper end of the frictional surface ofits brake; and also that the said apertures in the necks of the sandboxes will be closed by the act of withdrawing the brakes from theperipheries of the car-wheels. That greatly additional frictional powerwill be given to the brakes by the introduction of a small quantity ofsand between their friction surfaces and the peripheries of thecarwheels, at the time that the former is brought to bear upon thelatter, is self-evident.

The drawings represent a crank b, as secured to the outer end of eachpinion-shaft e, and straight bars g, g, as being combined with thewrists of the said cranks. Chains are represented as being connected toeach end of the bars 9, g, which may be connected to any suitableapparatus for operating the brakes, or for connecting the brakes of onetruck or car with those of the adjoining truck or car.

Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-- Increasing the frictional action of carbrakes upon the peripheriesof car-wheels by the introduction of sand, or its equivalent, betweenthe frictional surfaces at the time that the brakes are brought incontact with the car-wheels, substantially as herein set forth.

The above specification of my improvement in the brakes of railway-carssigned and witnessed this 15th day of J uly 185$).

HENRY DAVIS.

itnesses Z. G. ROBBINS, A. EVERETT.

